(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a novel construction of an oxford type, lace up athleisure shoe. The novel construction of the shoe enables the shoe to be slipped on the wearer's foot and held securely on the foot without the need for lacing on the shoe. This provides the shoe with a unique and novel appearance of a lace up shoe that is worn without lacing.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The oxford lace up basketball shoe has been a very popular shoe for athletics, in particular basketball for many years. In addition to use for athletics, the shoe has also become very popular as a comfortable casual shoe, or athleisure shoe. This is particularly true of the oxford lace up basketball shoe that has an upper constructed of a breathable fabric, for example canvas.
Efforts to further improve the comfort of the shoe have lead to considering wearing the oxford lace up basketball shoe without lacing. However, although the shoe provides a comfortable fit around the wearer's foot even without lacing, wearing the shoe without lacing presents the problem of the shoe slipping off the wearer's foot during walking or running.